Separating egg whites from yolks can be a difficult process. In many cases, cooks use the egg shells to facilitate separation by cracking the egg and attempting to retain the yolk within one of the two halves of the shells. From the outset, this can lead to disaster if the shell does not break evenly or forms sharp edges that pierce the yolk. In the course of passing the yolk from one shell half to the other, the yolk may break or may slip out of the shell and become mixed with the egg whites. This and other methods for attempting to separate egg whites from yolks are inefficient and often prone to failure.
At least one prior art device includes a main bowl with a handle in which the main bowl has horizontal slits to allow the egg whites to pass through the slits and out of the main bowl. In such a prior art device, the nature of the slits may puncture the egg yolk, preventing the separation. In addition, the placement of the horizontal slits at a level just below the rim of the bowl prevents complete separation of the white and yolk because some yolk may still pool beneath and around the egg yolk. The horizontal slits also cause the device to drain slowly because they do not allow the egg whites to pull away from the yolk effectively. This often results in the user shaking the device, making the operation more difficult and increasing the likelihood of breaking the yolk in the process.
Conventional wisdom has been that an egg yolk separation device requires a solid structure beneath the entirety of the egg yolk. The inventor has found, however, that the yolk may still be supported sufficiently with vertical slots that are provided in a region beneath the egg yolk itself and extending upward along the sides of the bowl.